Wrestlers Beat a Ranked Oklahoma Team

[Chescat]

I realize this is a football board, but beating #18 Oklahoma is pretty good, especially
since we haven't done much this year. I'm no wrestling expert, but it seems we have
a few to several very good wrestlers, and not much else. However, the new coach has
recruited very well for next year plus a top transfer or two.
This guy is a Lyke hire who was criticized by many. and looks very promising for the future
despite the poor record this year.
Some of these lesser sports, Volleyball (ACC champs), men's soccer, women's soccer,
and wrestling appear to be on an upward trajectory.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

 

[bwh05]

Definitely a fun match

 

[RaleighPittFan]

Definitely a fun match

 

[HailtoPitt]

The new wrestling coach was a botched hire by Lyke. CrazyPaco said so.

 

[CrazyPaco]

I realize this is a football board, but beating #18 Oklahoma is pretty good, especially
since we haven't done much this year. I'm no wrestling expert, but it seems we have
a few to several very good wrestlers, and not much else. However, the new coach has
recruited very well for next year plus a top transfer or two.
This guy is a Lyke hire who was criticized by many. and looks very promising for the future
despite the poor record this year.
Some of these lesser sports, Volleyball (ACC champs), men's soccer, women's soccer,
and wrestling appear to be on an upward trajectory.

Gavin wasn't criticized by anyone. He's young, hungry, and a Pitt man through and through, and Pitt is his dream job. He just had no head coaching experience. What was criticized was how the interview of a high profile, nationally prominent, established coach and alumnus was handled prior to Gavin's hire. Hopefully that was mostly a function of Lyke being on the job less than one week and not being looped in by the people that brought him in to interview. Since then, Lyke has made some good moves and hires.

I'd add swimming and diving to your list of Pitt sports on an upward swing.

 

[PittFanHere]

A very nice win. Despite being down 6-0 due to early medical forfeit, Pitt wrestlers did what they had to put themselves in a position to win. Zanetta's comeback was incredible, Rahmani beat a dude with a 15-5 record. Any losses were not by major, setting up Ryan Solomon for the pin - and the win. Fun to watch. Place went nuts.

5 bucks to watch D1 wrestling.

H2P

 

[PittFanHere]

Gavin wasn't criticized by anyone. He's young, hungry, and a Pitt man through and through, and Pitt is his dream job. He just had no head coaching experience. What was criticized was how the interview of a high profile, nationally prominent, established coach and alumnus was handled prior to Gavin's hire. Hopefully that was mostly a function of Lyke being on the job less than one week and not being looped in by the people that brought him in to interview. Since then, Lyke has made some good moves and hires.

I'd add swimming and diving to your list of Pitt sports on an upward swing.

Along with guys and girls soccer and women's volleyball

H2P

 

[HailtoPitt]

Gavin wasn't criticized by anyone. He's young, hungry, and a Pitt man through and through, and Pitt is his dream job. He just had no head coaching experience. What was criticized was how the interview of a high profile, nationally prominent, established coach and alumnus was handled prior to Gavin's hire. Hopefully that was mostly a function of Lyke being on the job less than one week and not being looped in by the people that brought him in to interview. Since then, Lyke has made some good moves and hires.

I'd add swimming and diving to your list of Pitt sports on an upward swing.

Let's make sure that things are put into proper perspective.

Some CrazyPaco quotes on the hire:

"So how is the new AD Lyke doing in her first big athletic hire? Epic failure? Will it make Barnes' handling of basketball seem inspired?"

"Unless there is a big surprise around the corner, complete cluster f* would be the better description. Out of her depth? Everything I thought sounded encouraging about her background...flush that. At this point, I can't imagine this person in charge of a hoops or, god forbid, football hire. Gallagher heading for 0-2."

"Wow, we've managed to hire an AD that makes Barnes' handling of basketball seem genius."

"It makes the Stallings hire look like we scored John Calipari."

"Instead of aggressively going after our primary targets, she apparently slowboated the process trying to make a name for herself."

"Santoro was a mulligan, losing Flynn is deeply disconcerting. Who we are rumored to be interviewing next smacks of absolute incompetence."

"It was posted here to draw attention to handling of this search through its first two candidates as a possibly troubling initial indicator of what we may be in store for beyond wrestling. It was intentionally posted here to create as much disturbance as possible so the solution to the apparent ill handling wouldn't be resolved with an easy but alarmingly terrible back up plan that would make the Stallings hire seem genius in comparison.
She may or may not rebound to correct what has transpired in her first big hire thus far. Whether this was blown ultimately depends on the outcome, but so far, it was blown big time."

"She came in and absolutely wrecked, either intentionally or through incompetence, two hires that were gift wrapped for her and would been perceived as home runs in the national and local wrestling community. This isn't rumor. This also damaged Pitt's reputation throughout the wrestling community and may have put at least one sizable financial commitment to the program in jeopardy."

"I hope to heck I'm surprised and will more than gladly eat every alarmist syllable that I've typed in this post."

Salt and pepper with that?

It's especially amusing because CP gave Steve pass after pass after pass for his continues clusters (and still does). Yet, Lyke is ridiculed endlessly for not hiring someone she was told to hire?

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Nice turn of events for the wrestling team.
We can't wait to see them at wrestle VT, NCST, and Lehigh near where we live.

We attend alot of Lehigh wrestling matches each year.

"save a horse ride a cowboy"
Signed: Mrs Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!

 

[Chescat]

Gavin wasn't criticized by anyone. He's young, hungry, and a Pitt man through and through, and Pitt is his dream job. He just had no head coaching experience. What was criticized was how the interview of a high profile, nationally prominent, established coach and alumnus was handled prior to Gavin's hire. Hopefully that was mostly a function of Lyke being on the job less than one week and not being looped in by the people that brought him in to interview. Since then, Lyke has made some good moves and hires.

I'd add swimming and diving to your list of Pitt sports on an upward swing.

Normally I wouldn't reply to, but you're splitting hairs. You're right about criticism
being directed at the hiring process, but he was ALSO criticized during the process
because he supposedly was inferior to the"established coach and alumnus"
you correctly mentioned in your post. Much of that criticism occurred right here on this
board.

 

[Pantherguy4]

Nice win for our grapplers. H2P!

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Nice win for our grapplers. H2P!

I took a quick look at the bout scores and noticed Pitt didn't give up any bonus team points, had one pin and the unfortunate forfiet at 125lbs.

I can't believe Pitt has noone to go out there at 125lbs and save some team points or maybe even win.

Shout out to the Pitt wrestlers who lost but worked hard to not give up bonus pts which helped secure the one pt victory.

For a team like Pitt ( developing) a team effort is what's required not giving up bonus pts and getting bonus pts like the pin in 285 HW bout is important.

"save a horse ride a cowboy"
Signed: Mrs Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!

 

[WiseAndGlorious]

I took a quick look at the bout scores and noticed Pitt didn't give up any bonus team points, had one pin and the unfortunate forfiet at 125lbs.

I can't believe Pitt has noone to go out there at 125lbs and save some team points or maybe even win.

L.J. Bentley was injured Friday against NDSU. They might not have had time to get anyone down to weight. Canon Mac's Brendan Price is listed at 125, but I know last year he was filling in at 133, so he might not have been available.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Normally I wouldn't reply to, but you're splitting hairs. You're right about criticism
being directed at the hiring process, but he was ALSO criticized during the process
because he supposedly was inferior to the"established coach and alumnus"
you correctly mentioned in your post. Much of that criticism occurred right here on this
board.

Bull shit on splitting hairs. When you have a nationally regarded, seasoned, established head coach of a program regularly in the top 10 who is also an alumni vs someone that is an alumni but has zero head coaching or program building experience and has only 3 years as an assistant on his resume, then yes, absolutely, Gavin wasn't as good of a hire as would have been Pat Santoro going both by resume and standing in the wrestling community. Nor on paper was Gavin as good as Tim Flynn who they also apparently whiffed on. No one can argue the incoming credentials of Gavin vs these other candidates. That's not a criticism of Gavin, that is just fact, but those guys were already off the table at that point. NO ONE criticized Keith Gavin himself, his character, qualities, or potential as a head coach, but he was hired primarily on his alumni status and potential. That said, at that late point in the search, Gavin's status and potential was more attractive than probably the other candidates that they were looking at and, at the point of his announcement, everyone was fairly happy with his selection considering who had already withdrawn themselves from consideration and who else was realistically available. He just took his dream job that he was offered, after impressing in his interviews, and EVERYONE is behind him because he'll bust his butt to make Pitt successful and there is no better storyline than an alumni that makes good. For all anyone knows he'll be the next Rex Peery, and everyone hopes that is true. What was criticized was the handling of the coaching search where Pitt whiffed on coaches with much more established and stronger resumes that were apparently interested enough to interview. Whiffing on them could end up being for the better, who knows, but that criticism of the early search process was absolutely warranted.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

What caused Pitt to whiff?

 

[CrazyPaco]

What caused Pitt to whiff?

Depends who you ask. I've heard multiple things. My conclusion is it was just poor timing with Lyke just coming on and the search committee that was bringing in these coaches not being prepared nor preparing Lyke which they may have just not had time to do as far as getting on the same page. Bottom line, Pitt was unprepaired to make the necessary commitments to get these coaches, at least Santoro (and that is straight from the source), and it seems just to have partly been a function of poor timing with the transition in athletic leadership.

It's over. Everyone has moved on and things seem to be heading in the right direction on all fronts for most sports.

As far as Gavin, he had his work cut out for the minute he stepped through the Field House door because the program was in disarray and neglected, but he is doing and saying all the right things. I think his potential is great. So is Lyke with regards to garnering support and improvements for wrestling.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Along with guys and girls soccer and women's volleyball

H2P

Absolutely, and those were mentioned in the earlier post.

 

[WiseAndGlorious]

Some CrazyPaco quotes on the hire:

"I hope to heck I'm surprised and will more than gladly eat every alarmist syllable that I've typed in this post."

Salt and pepper with that?

Beating Oklahoma is a nice win but the team is 2-6. I am pulling for him and obviously for Pitt, but Gavin still has his work cut out for him. You probably could care less beyond rubbing CP's nose in it, but this would be akin to saying the win over a ranked FSU last year completely exonerated Barnes on the Stallings hire.

 

[Pantherguy4]

I agree with you WiseAnd Glorious...BUT I am very excited with the PROPSPECT of where Coach Gavin could take this team.

 

[WiseAndGlorious]

I agree with you WiseAnd Glorious...BUT I am very excited with the PROPSPECT of where Coach Gavin could take this team.

I am too. He is doing a great job recruiting in the lower classes - Cole Matthews is a stud. He needs to improve the depth at the heavier weights. Solomon is a senior and 197 has been a black hole, although with Harvey and Bonaccorsi at 184 someone could move up.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Beating Oklahoma is a nice win but the team is 2-6. I am pulling for him and obviously for Pitt, but Gavin still has his work cut out for him. You probably could care less beyond rubbing CP's nose in it, but this would be akin to saying the win over a ranked FSU last year completely exonerated Barnes on the Stallings hire.

Which coach would you rather have? Stallings or Gavin?

 

[WiseAndGlorious]

Which coach would you rather have? Stallings or Gavin?

I get your point, that Gavin is young and a Pitt guy, so you see potential whereas Stallings is a known. The question is, would you rather have hired a top 10 coach in each respective sport instead of either one? For hoops everyone was mad about missing on Sean Miller when there was no chance of that happening. Santoro is on par with Miller (less the FBI stuff) and he was interested and even interviewed for the wrestling job. Regardless, it is water under the bridge and I am behind both Gavin and Stallings.

 

[rmf05]

I don't follow wrestling at all but the write-ups I've noticed seem like they always go up against ranked teams? Is our record indicative of scheduling?

 

[gary2]

I get your point, that Gavin is young and a Pitt guy, so you see potential whereas Stallings is a known. The question is, would you rather have hired a top 10 coach in each respective sport instead of either one? For hoops everyone was mad about missing on Sean Miller when there was no chance of that happening. Santoro is on par with Miller (less the FBI stuff) and he was interested and even interviewed for the wrestling job. Regardless, it is water under the bridge and I am behind both Gavin and Stallings.

Good for you

 

[WiseAndGlorious]

I don't follow wrestling at all but the write-ups I've noticed seem like they always go up against ranked teams? Is our record indicative of scheduling?

Yeah their schedule is not easy. According to the current rankings Pitt wrestles:
#10 Arizona State
#16 Wisconsin
Oklahoma was #18 and NDSU was #25 before dropping out today, but both received votes along with WVU who Pitt also wrestled.

They still have the following ahead, so there is a chance to learn, improve and hopefully knock off some more ranked opponents.
#5 NC State
#6 Lehigh
#9 VT
#15 South Dakota State
#24 UNC

 

[BuffetParrothead]

I am too. He is doing a great job recruiting in the lower classes - Cole Matthews is a stud. He needs to improve the depth at the heavier weights. Solomon is a senior and 197 has been a black hole, although with Harvey and Bonaccorsi at 184 someone could move up.

Lets hope he does well coaching Pitt wrestling.
So far he has one good performance Oklahoma.

Pitt wrestling looked terrible losing to Bucknell and Clarion teams they should have beat.

West Virginia wasn't a good effort and the ranked teams they wrestled early in the year took them apart.

He not only needs to recruit well but develope and condition the wrestlers so he gets max effort from each person. That's the key to a good wrestling program.

Recruiting lower weights is alot easier than filling up the heavier weights. It's simple math there are alot more good wrestlers in the lower weights.

Let's hope he continues to move things forward!

"its five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!

 

[Chescat]

Bull shit on splitting hairs. When you have a nationally regarded, seasoned, established head coach of a program regularly in the top 10 who is also an alumni vs someone that is an alumni but has zero head coaching or program building experience and has only 3 years as an assistant on his resume, then yes, absolutely, Gavin wasn't as good of a hire as would have been Pat Santoro going both by resume and standing in the wrestling community. Nor on paper was Gavin as good as Tim Flynn who they also apparently whiffed on. No one can argue the incoming credentials of Gavin vs these other candidates. That's not a criticism of Gavin, that is just fact, but those guys were already off the table at that point. NO ONE criticized Keith Gavin himself, his character, qualities, or potential as a head coach, but he was hired primarily on his alumni status and potential. That said, at that late point in the search, Gavin's status and potential was more attractive than probably the other candidates that they were looking at and, at the point of his announcement, everyone was fairly happy with his selection considering who had already withdrawn themselves from consideration and who else was realistically available. He just took his dream job that he was offered, after impressing in his interviews, and EVERYONE is behind him because he'll bust his butt to make Pitt successful and there is no better storyline than an alumni that makes good. For all anyone knows he'll be the next Rex Peery, and everyone hopes that is true. What was criticized was the handling of the coaching search where Pitt whiffed on coaches with much more established and stronger resumes that were apparently interested enough to interview. Whiffing on them could end up being for the better, who knows, but that criticism of the early search process was absolutely warranted.

My, my, a poster has a different viewpoint and Mr. Crazy screams "Bullshit!" Nowhere did
I mention anything about the "criticism of the early search process." I actually was in
favor of hiring Santoro. What you took issue with before your rant, was my statement
that there was criticism of Gavin. Actually there was such criticism, despite you saying
that he "wasn't criticized by anyone."
I appreciate that you are the all knowing one, and are here to set the record straight
from those who post but are not on your lofty level.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

My, my, a poster has a different viewpoint and Mr. Crazy screams "Bullshit!" Nowhere did
I mention anything about the "criticism of the early search process." I actually was in
favor of hiring Santoro. What you took issue with before your rant, was my statement
that there was criticism of Gavin. Actually there was such criticism, despite you saying
that he "wasn't criticized by anyone."
I appreciate that you are the all knowing one, and are here to set the record straight
from those who post but are not on your lofty level.

Mr Crazy usually throws posters who disagree with him a few F Bombs, laced with other swear words in rapid succession!
What a class act he is and he's a Pitt employee???
Where and doing what with a mouth like that?

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!

 

[Pitt-Chains]

Nice turn of events for the wrestling team.
We can't wait to see them at wrestle VT, NCST, and Lehigh near where we live.

We attend alot of Lehigh wrestling matches each year.

"save a horse ride a cowboy"
Signed: Mrs Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!

Buffet, I work with a two time All American from Lehigh, trains like a madman !

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Buffet, I work with a two time All American from Lehigh, trains like a madman !

Lehigh U wrestling was always very nice to the local HS's in our area.

One of the things we noticed about Lehigh wrestlers is they're smart guys, student athletes, who end up with good jobs after they graduate. They take the best of the best well rounded wrestlers.

Both our kids who are now 30 & 32 had the opportunity to wrestle a HS televised District XI dual meet in Grace Hall prior to Lehigh wrestling. Our area is wrestling crazy so the Lehigh fans would show up early to watch the HS wrestling too.

After the HS match parents and wrestlers were invited to stay for Lehigh wrestling. They would rotate the District XI teams in the Lehigh Valley.

Pitt should start something like that. A select HS match prior to the Pitt match on TV.

The HS that our kids wrestled for has mulitiple PA HS wrestling state championships with alot of wrestlers going to Lehigh. Many would come back to the HS to work out with the HS wrestlers on a regular basis and bring some of the their Lehigh wrestler friends with them.

Lehigh had numerous wrestling training camps and sessions which helped make our conference in District XI ( Easton, Northhampton, Beth Cath, Parkland, Nazareth, Liberty, Freedom, etc) one of the strongest wrestling conferences in PA and the country.

Both of our kids were coached by a guy who wrestled at Lehigh in the mid 70's 2x Nat Champ and three time All American. He was in his 50's and still wrestled with the HS guys and was really in wrestling shape even at that age.His son also wrestled at Lehigh.

Mr Buffett coached the local youth programs at that time and got to know some of the Lehigh coaches and wrestlers.

Being wrestling fans its nice to have Lehigh U nearby!

"save a horse ride a cowboy"
Signed: Mrs Buffett
Go Pitt & CSU Rams!